THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST FOR STUDENTS

Breakfast really is the “most important meal of the day.” Kids who eat breakfast tend to eat

healthier overall, get more physical activity, and maintain a healthy body weight. Helping kids build

healthful eating habits, including eating a nutritious breakfast, can build a foundation of eating

right. Eating breakfast is important for everyone, but especially for children and teens. After going

without food for 8 to 10 hours during sleep, breakfast gives our bodies the fuel it needs for the day.

Eating breakfast helps jump start metabolism for the day. Kids who don’t eat breakfast will tend to

feel an energy drain by mid-morning (Hecker, K., MD, 2021).

According to Boyer L. (2018) students who eat a healthy breakfast tend to have better

concentration than students who skip breakfast altogether. When the day starts with

breakfast, students can focus on the task at hand better and become less distracted by

outside influences and other students. They’re also able to understand what’s being taught

more easily and retain that new information better than students who are hungry because

they’ve skipped breakfast.

Furthermore, some nutritionists claim that eating breakfast can reduce your urge to eat

unhealthy foods later in the day. They say that eating healthy foods in the morning releases

dopamine which is responsible for impulse control. This, in effect, could help you eat more

healthy foods later in the day which could help you become a healthier person (Sato, A.,

2019).

Finally, a lot of nutritionists argue that breakfast is just another opportunity to feed your

body healthy food. A lot of breakfast foods have fantastic health advantages. Skipping

breakfast means skipping another chance to give your body nourishment. Of course, in order

for this argument to make sense, you have to eat a good, healthy breakfast (Sato, A., 2019).

Children who do not eat breakfast at home or at school were less able to learn. Hunger can

lead to lower math scores, attention problems, and behavior, emotional, and academic

problems. Furthermore, studies show that children who are consistently or often hungry are

more likely to repeat a grade ( HEALTHY-FOOD-CHOICES-IN-SCHOOLS, 2019).

The way you start your day sets the tone for the rest of the day. Your body responds

differently throughout the day depending on what you put in it immediately after waking up.
For example, according to a study published in The Journal of Physiology, when you fail to

eat in the morning, your body goes into fasting mode which means that excess calories are

stored rather than burned throughout the day. On the other hand, starting the day with food

tells your body that you have enough calories, so the body knows to function as usual and

burn excess. Through the day, your metabolism is better. According to the study, slow

metabolism caused from failing to eat breakfast may increase your risk of diabetes and

cardiovascular diseases (Sato, A., 2019)